Geophysical constraints on mesozoic disruption of North China Craton by underplating‐triggered lower‐crust flow of the Archaean lithosphere

The mechanism of the disruption, both lithospheric thinning and oceanization of the commonly accepted long‐term‐stable Archaean craton, is still an open question. The available models, all imply a bottom to top process. With the construction of a 1660‐km‐long transect across the eastern North China Craton (NCC), we demonstrate that both the P‐wave velocity and density in the lowermost crust beneath the central section are significantly higher than in the corresponding parts of the south and north sections on the transect. These features are interpreted as geophysical signature of lower crustal underplating, which supplies sufficiently high gravitational potential energy to trigger lateral flow of the lower crust. This magma underplating‐triggered bilateral lower crust flow may facilitate the lithospheric thinning by means of asthenosphere upwelling and decompression melting, which infill the gap produced by the lower crust flow. The underplating‐triggered lower crustal flow can provide an alternative mechanism to explain the NCC lithosphere disruption, which highlights the crustal feedback to Archaean lithosphere disruption, from top to bottom.     

The objective determination of the instantaneous predominant frequency of seismic signals and inferences onQ of coda waves

A technique to detect spectrum variations versus time along seismic signals is applied to coda waves of local earthquakes (Friuli, Northern Italy). The technique consists of an autoregressive modeling and utilizes nonlinear spectral analysis where the spectrum of stochastic processes is estimated as the transfer function of the filter that whitens the process under analysis. This approach appears to be particularly well suited to those investigations where automatic measurements of the instantaneous frequency have to be carried out on digital data. The detection of variations of the instantaneous frequency along the coda allows computation of seismic-Q in the lithosphere and its frequency dependence: the result obtained is $$Q = 100f^{0.4} $$ which appears to be strongly consistent with that, based on the estimate of the coda amplitude decay in the band including the most significant frequencies of the signals under analysis.     

Complete synthetic seismograms for high-frequency multimodeSH-waves

We present an efficient scheme to compute high-frequency seismograms (up to 10 Hz) forSH-waves in a horizontally stratified medium with the mode summation method. The formalism which permits the computation of eigenvalues, eigenfunctions and related integral quantities is discussed in detail. Anelasticity is included in the model by using the variational method. Phase velocity, group velocity, energy integral and attenuation spectra of a structure enable the computation of complete strong motion seismograms, which are the basic tool for the interpretation of near-source broad-band data.Different examples computed for continental structures are discussed, where one example is the comparison between the observed transversal displacement recorded at station IVC for the November 4, Brawley 1976 earthquake and synthetic signals. In the case of a magnitudeM _L =5.7 earthquake in the Friuli seismic area we apply the mode summation method to infer from waveform modeling of all three components of motion of observed data some characteristics of the source.On leave from Institute of Geophysics, ETH, Zürich, Switzerland.     

Site response using coda-wave techniques: Applications to short period data from central and southern Italy

The method of coda waves was applied to two different sets of data for the evaluation of the relative site response.The first set of data consists of low magnitude earthquakes with closely spaced locations, recorded at a small aperture array of velocimeters located in the Abruzzo region, central Italy. The second set of data is composed of events with epicentral distance ranging from 20 to 300 km, recorded at a seismological network with an aperture of about 100 km located in the Puglia region, southern Italy.Results show that the coda wave method furnishes stable estimates of the site effect. An amplification, relative to an arbitrary site, of a factor of about 2 occurs in the 1.7–6 Hz frequency band for two stations of the Abruzzo network, while an amplification factor of about 0.5 occurs in the whole frequency band (1–24 Hz) for one of the stations of the Puglia network. This station is located in an area which is correlated with a low macroseismic intensity anomaly.     

Seismicity, seismic input and site effects in the Sahel—Algiers region (North Algeria)

Algiers city is located in a seismogenic zone. To reduce the impact of seismic risk in this Capital city, a realistic modelling of the seismic ground motion (SGM) is conducted by using the hybrid method that combines the finite differences method and the modal summation. For this purpose, a complete database of geological, geophysical and earthquake data is constructed. A critical re-appraisal of the seismicity of the zone [2.25°E–3.50°E, 36.50°N–37.00°N] is performed and an earthquake list, for the period 1359–2002, is compiled. The analysis of existing and newly retrieved macroseismic information allowed the definition of earthquake parameters of macroseismic events for which a degree of reliability is assigned. Geological cross sections have been built up to model the SGM in the city, caused by the 1989 Mont-Chenoua and the 1924 Douéra earthquakes. Synthetic seismograms and response spectral ratio is produced for Algiers, and they show that the soft sediments in Algiers centre are responsible of the noticed amplification of the SGM.     

Crust and Upper Mantle Structure in the Caribbean Region by Group Velocity Tomography and Regionalization

An overview of the crust and upper mantle structure of Central America and the Caribbean region is presented as a result of the processing of more than 200 seismograms recorded by digital broadband stations from SSSN and GSN seismic networks. Group velocity dispersion curves are obtained in the period range from 10s to 40s by FTAN analysis of the fundamental mode of the Rayleigh waves; the error of these measurements varies from 0.06 and 0.09 km/s. From the dispersion curve, seven tomographic maps at different periods and with average spatial resolution of 500 km are obtained. Using the logical combinatorial classification techniques, eight main groups of dispersion curves are determined from the tomographic maps and eleven main regions, each one characterized by one kind of dispersion curves, are identified. The average dispersion curves obtained for each region are extended to 150s by adding data from a larger-scale tomographic study (Vdovin et al., 1999) and inverted using a nonlinear procedure. A set of models of the S-wave velocity vs. depth in the crust and upper mantle is found as a result of the inversion process. In six regions we identify a typically oceanic crust and upper mantle structure, while in the other two the models are consistent with the presence of a continental structure. Two regions, located over the major geological zones of the accretionary crust of the Caribbean region, are characterized by a peculiar crust and upper mantle structure, indicating the presence of lithospheric roots reaching, at least, about 200 km of depth.     

Realistic Modeling of Seismic Input in Urban Areas: A UNESCO-IUGS-IGCP Project

—?The estimation of realistic seismic input can be obtained from the computation of a wide set of time histories and spectral information, corresponding to possible seismotectonic scenarios for different source and structural models. Such a data set can be very constructively used by civil engineers in the design of new seismo-resistant structures and in the reinforcement of the existing built environment, therefore supplying a particularly powerful tool to the prevention efforts of Civil Defense. The availability of realistic numerical simulations enables us to estimate the amplification effects in complex geological structures exploiting the available geotechnical, lithological, geophysical parameters, topography of the medium, tectonic, historical, paleoseismological data, and seismotectonic models. The realistic modeling of the ground motion is a very important source of knowledge for the preparation of groundshaking scenarios which represent a valid and economical tool in seismic microzonation.     

Seismotectonic models and CN algorithm: The case of Italy

The CN algorithm is utilized here both for the intermediate term earthquake prediction and to validate the seismotectonic model of the Italian territory. Using the results of the analysis, made through the CN algorithm and taking into account the seismotectonic model, three main areas, one for Northern Italy, one for Central Italy and one for Southern Italy, are defined. Two transition areas between the three main areas are delineated. The earthquakes which occurred in these two areas contribute to the precursor phenomena identified by the CN algorithm in each main area.